New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-01-16
ROMANCEs OF OCCULTISM.
THE SUPERNATURAL IN FICTION.

che By II. RIDER HAGGARD. Harpers frahk'n
Square Library.
Tho thought of tho day il represented IN contem-
porarv fiction but the thought of the day flows IN
many currents Evolutionary philosophy has
nroauced n realistic school Of nOvelists. and It's
Tendencies are more and more materialistic. AZ
postici,m however has stimulated reaction
tovard mysticism, and side by side with tho
virtual denial of the supernatural proceeds
literature which is saturated with it. Norris IL
doubtful that this idealistc fiction hnds warm
velc pme. even though it be contemned oy the
spirit of modern science. Philosophers may rest
content with negations. but the people every
where hunger and thirst for those daring nghtS VI
the Imagination which laugh to scoru what are
called the boundaries of natural law ana wn'cn
crystallze and give life to the conjectures ana
speculatOns induiged by the ho'' pI"e'''"' ""N
prosaic now and then.
The nreaent century has produced considerable
number Of what may be termed romahces VI
occnltism Bulwer wrote the BEST Oh tncih III
sZanoni" and "a Strange Story" In ihee nc
made free use of the medieval legends, the ttaoi-
tions of tho CagliOstros and st. Germains' the
storles of the Rosicrucans and the vague ont
crpppings of Oriental lore then for the hrst time
opening up Ito tho Western world But balwer
had made a study of occult literature anu
philosophy He could have We'd with Roger Bacon
or Nicolas Flannel In discussing the mysteries OF
thu Rosy Cross and he was thoroughly versed III
the phenomena and theories of modern Spiritual
isrn No writer of this age has been 80 well pre-
pared as he for this kind of fiction, and ZaIohi
must always be considered classic IN It's KIM.
That occultism has had an attraction Tor novel
ists who in their more serious labors have Stunned
that difficult linz is shown in the obvious deiisht
with which Thackeray wrote the three konndaoout
PAPERS entitled 1The Notch on the Axe" IL IS
fnrx- n
on the sensational novel of the PERIOD but 1t IS not
,ess true TINT he finished il with confessed regret.
and liked the style. Dickens had a strong super
natural bias as many of his short stories anu
especially the Christmas stories published IN House
hold Uoris testify Even Sir Walter Scott, whose
" DemonOlogy" proves him to have been realistic
10 the CORE could not resist the temptation to intro
duce the machinery Of the supernatural in "Ibe
Monastery" and The Abbot" though 1t must De
admitted that his White Lady of Avenc is IA sub
stantial and earthly phantom as was ever per-
sona.ea by q medium of the Sludge variety.
Prior to this revival of what may be called real
occultism the only attempts to employ the super
natural in fiction followed closely on medieval
crudity The "Castle of Otranto" the gloomy
rims of Lewis's Monk" and the scenery Of the
novels belonging to that school. were peopled by
spcctres rs title ethereal as the Ghost in Hamlet
In truth the scepticiNm of the eighteenth century
bad nearly extingushed the supernatural, and the
earliest endeavors to restore ware feeble and orti
fetal Buiwer was the first to give the ancient be-
liefs fresh hold upon the public by claiming Tor
.hem basis of scientific truth which entitled them
TO respectful consideration. Rejecting the vulgar
traditions of sOrcerers whose occult powers were
the result of compacts with Satan he postu
mysterious beings VINO owed the possession of
marvellous capacities to more profound know-
edge of natural laws and forces than the race at
large has mastered. Thus Zanoni Meinour, Mar
grave and Sir Philip Derval oil represented as
having found in the Orient the wisdom trief men
ton of which is scattered here and there through
the literature of antiquity and the sacred writings
of Christendom. Upon these lines occultism IN tc-
ton has since been followed. and with little varia-
ton in the principle. Mr.. Crawford in his Mr.
Isaacs" and later in Zoroaster." has gone to the
East for his adopts and sages The rise of heosophy
must also be recognized As an important factor In
the development of this class of fiction So far as
the world generally is concerned Theosophists are
chiefly distinguished from other people by belief
that somewhe in the far East, in the tlima'ayas
or the Lamaseries OF Thibet, there exists kind of
college of Adopts who alleged to have attained
wonderful powers and still more wonderful insight
by the practice of singular auStcrties and bold ana
persistent researches into nature. 1t has indeed
been complained by the uninitiated that the nabta
the furthest limits of Western exploration. much as
the aucieuts placed the Fortunate Isles-the Islands
of the Hespcrdes-well eyOnd the boundaries OF
their own meagre geo graphical Investigations The
Theosophists reply to such objections that the
Masters cannot endure contact With the world,
and are therefore compelled to seclude themselves
as much as possible. Whatever tho truth NAV he, IL
is obvious that the inaccessibilty of these portent
Gus beings is highly convenient for the romance
writer
Two quite remarkable occult novels furnish tho
text for this review. The first, Mr. Sinnetts
.Karma.n was avowedly undertaken for the pur-
pose of famliarizng the Western world with some
Of the leading tenets of the old Asiatic philosophy
which forms the real basis of Theosophy. Karma,
In the Orient is equivalent 10 what call Destiny,
though the word stands for a comprehensive doc
trine. Destiny as commonly used signifies tho pres
ence of a Necessity which is directed from without.
Karma is the of the merit and dement, pro-
duced BY every human being. BY that merit and
demert, according to the Aryans, human life is
governed, under certain general rules and cond-
tions 10 larger sense than that of Shakespeare
the evil that men do lives after Them" though the
good is not oft inferred with their bones" In this
doctrine OF rencarnatiOn it is held that the evil
done in one life has to be atoned for in the neat
while the good takes shape IN the fe lefty Of the
epiritual existence which separates. two incarna-
tons The result sia belief that every one really
makes his own destiny, and that the conditions of
this life IN the main, but not altogether result from
the conduct of the preceding life earth go much
explanation is necessary to an understanding of Mr.
Sinnetts story, in which the grasp of the philoso-
ply 10 stronger than the literary skill
He has laid his scene in Europe jut has intro
duced the inevitable adept in mysterious German
baron who talks exanedly, and with much reluct-
snce gives o manifestation of his occalt powers IN
telling a forest tree by the exercise Of will force
alone. There is very little plot party Of bright
and inquisitive people assemble at an old castle on
the Rhine to investigate occultsm. The castle be-